Today I wanted to post a Photoshop/PSE tutorial on one way I would do a "Fantasy Portrait" edit.

For most of my images I prefer simple, clean edits, but there are times I really want to go all out and create something amazing and unreal. Today I wanted to show you how you can use Hue/Saturation layers to add brilliant fantasy color to your outdoor portraits. Not only is it easy, but incredibly fun!

I love this clean-edit image, but I wanted to take it to the next level and make it more dramatic by adding vivid color and additional light.

1. I wanted the background to be a magenta-reddish color, so I added a Hue/Saturation layer and put the Hue at -73 and the Saturation at +6. Yes, she is really scary looking, but we will fix that in the next step.

2. I used a soft black brush, clicked on the layer mask, and carefully painted out the girl. I also removed some of the color tint from the tree she is leaning against.

3. I think she looked too yellow, so I added another Hue/Saturation layer over the background, selected Yellow, and moved the saturation down to -41. I lost quite a bit of brilliant color in the background, so I used a soft black brush at approximately 50% and painted over the background to return some of its reddish color.

4. I wanted to add some additional light, so I created a new layer on top and used a soft white brush at 40% opacity and clicked on areas that would have light leak between the trees.

5. I wanted to soften light effect a bit, so I added a motion blur to that layer (see settings above, adjust for your own image).

6. Her face was a bit washed out from the extra light, so I added a layer mask to the top light layer and used a soft black brush at 80% and clicked on her face to remove some of the light.

7. Finally, I wanted to add some contrast, so I added a Levels adjustment layer on top, put it in Soft Light, and then moved the Gamma (middle) slider to the left until I was pleased with the contrast "pop". This really brightened the image.

Here is my final image after cropping off some of the left side. I know this type of edit is not for everyone, but I really love the fantasy aspect of this image and hope it inspires you to go and have fun creating your own art!

Questions? Please leave a comment. And I would love to see your Before/Afters on my Facebook page!!!

Do you want to download my favorite CoffeeShop PSE/Photoshop Actions and Lightroom Presets or Design Elements in one convenient zipped file AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

Wow! How Fun! Like you said, this is not something I would do all the time, but....along the way, I did learn some new techniques about using hue/saturation. Thanks so much for the time you take in your tutorials.

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My name is Rita and I am a work-at-home/homeschooling Mom to two amazing boys (Duke is 13 and Imp is 11) in Texas and passionate about photography and photo-editing.

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